Interesting facts about Autism – Common myths, causes, important positive information, early signs, characteristics, diagnosis, management, prognosis and Sleep problems. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior.
At what age can you see the early signs of Autism ?
Parents usually begin observing signs in the first two years of their child’s life. The diagnostic criteria require that symptoms become apparent in early childhood, typically before age three.
Overt symptoms gradually begin after the age of six months, become established by age two or three years and tend to continue through adulthood, although often in more muted form.
What are the causes of Autism ?
While autism is highly heritable, researchers suspect both environmental and genetic factors as causes. In rare cases, autism is strongly associated with agents that cause birth defects. Controversies surround other proposed environmental causes like the vaccine hypotheses.
Is there any cure for Autism ?
Although there is no known cure, there have been reported cases of children who recovered. Not many children with autism live independently after reaching adulthood, though some become successful.
What are the characteristics of Autism ?
Repetitive behaviour – Autistic individuals display many forms of repetitive or restricted behavior. No single repetitive or self-injurious behavior seems to be specific to autism, but autism appears to have an elevated pattern of occurrence of Compulsive behaviour and Self Injury.
Social development – Autistic toddlers differ more strikingly from social norms; for example, they have less eye contact and turn-taking, and do not have the ability to use simple movements to express themselves, such as pointing at things.
Unusual social development becomes apparent early in childhood. Autistic infants show less attention to social stimuli, smile and look at others less often, and respond less to their own name.
Children with high-functioning autism suffer from more intense and frequent loneliness compared to non-autistic peers, despite the common belief that children with autism prefer to be alone. Making and maintaining friendships often proves to be difficult for those with autism.
Communication – About a third to a half of individuals with autism do not develop enough natural speech to meet their daily communication needs.
How is Autism diagnosed?
Several diagnostic instruments are available. Two are commonly used in autism research: the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) is a semistructured parent interview, and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) uses observation and interaction with the child. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale(CARS) is used widely in clinical environments to assess severity of autism based on observation of children.
ASD can sometimes be diagnosed by age 14 months, although diagnosis becomes increasingly stable over the first three years of life.
Management of Autism behaviour
The main goals when treating children with autism are to lessen associated deficits and family distress, and to increase quality of life and functional independence. In general, higher IQs are correlated with greater responsiveness to treatment and improved treatment outcomes.
No single treatment is best and treatment is typically tailored to the child’s needs. Families and the educational system are the main resources for treatment. Studies of interventions have methodological problems that prevent definitive conclusions about efficacy.
Educational interventions can be effective to varying degrees in most children: intensive ABA treatment has demonstrated effectiveness in enhancing global functioning in preschool children and is well-established for improving intellectual performance of young children
A person with ASD may respond atypically to medications, the medications can have adverse effects, and no known medication relieves autism’s core symptoms of social and communication impairments.
Treatment is expensive; indirect costs are more so. US states increasingly require private health insurance to cover autism services, shifting costs from publicly funded education programs to privately funded health insurance. After childhood, key treatment issues include residential care, job training and placement, sexuality, social skills, and estate planning.
Prognosis of Autism
There is no known cure. Children recover occasionally, so that they lose their diagnosis of ASD; this occurs sometimes after intensive treatment and sometimes not. It is not known how often recovery happens.
Sleep Problems and Autism
Sleep problems affect about two-thirds of individuals with ASD at some point in childhood. These most commonly include symptoms of insomnia such as difficulty in falling asleep, frequent nocturnal awakenings, and early morning awakenings. Sleep problems are associated with difficult behaviors and family stress, and are often a focus of clinical attention over and above the primary ASD diagnosis.
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